• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Hole in Earth’s Magnetic Field Cracks Open For Six Hours Sparking Rare Pink Auroras

November 8, 2022 by Deborah Bloomfield

A particularly strong solar storm cracked a hole in Earth’s magnetic field this week, sparking some epic – and rare – pink auroras. No, the planet hasn’t been attacked by intergalactic unicorns riding in on a trail of pink stardust, but it does take some unusual circumstances to create this particular colorful light show.

The vivid scenes were caught by Markus Varik, a guide for northern lights tour operator Greenlander, in the skies above Tromsø in Norway on November 3, who shared them to the Greenlander Facebook page.

Advertisement

Auroras occur when powerful solar winds – highly energetic charged particles – get flung out from the Sun and slam into Earth, ripping holes in its magnetic field, or magnetosphere. These charged particles pour through the hole, creating a geomagnetic storm that presents itself to us as pretty auroras. As the magnetic field is weakest around Earth’s poles, that’s where auroras usually occur.

Pink auroras are sparked when solar winds travel further into the atmosphere than normal. Image courtesy of Markus Varik, Greenlander

Pink auroras are sparked when solar winds travel further into the atmosphere than normal. Image courtesy of Markus Varik, Greenlander

The auroras Borealis and Australis usually appear green (sometimes with a hint of red or purple) because most solar winds only reach altitudes of 100-240 kilometers (60-150 miles) where there is a higher concentration of oxygen. The “excited” oxygen particles give them their characteristic green glow.

It’s the nitrogen in the atmosphere that can make them appear pink, and nitrogen particles occur at lower altitudes of around 100 kilometers (62 miles), where most solar winds don’t reach, so it takes particularly high solar activity to fling charged particles with such force that they do. A storm like the one that occurred on November 3.  

Advertisement

A G1-class geomagnetic storm hit Earth last week, cracking open a hole in the magnetic field that stayed open for six hours. The NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center had issued warnings of the potential G1 storm, which although deemed as “minor” on its 1-5 scale, still warns of power grid fluctuations, minor satellite impacts, migratory animals being affected, and, of course, epic auroras.   

Don’t worry, cracks in Earth’s magnetic field are normal. The magnetic field acts as a shield to protect us from solar storms spat out by the Sun. It was thought they opened and closed relatively quickly but now we know they can stay open for up to 14 hours, and we’re all still here.  

The Sun is gearing up towards its most active period in the solar cycle (July 2025) and is already unusually active quite early. Your chances of spotting auroras are already pretty good right now, but they’re just going to get better and better over the next three years.  

Advertisement

[HT: Livescience]

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. Exclusive-China’s Miniso to double U.S. stores, add NY ‘flagship’ as pandemic slashes mall rents
  2. European shares turn positive as easing U.S. inflation data offsets luxury drag
  3. Japan’s Aso urges joint monetary, fiscal policies to spur inflation
  4. Soccer-Rashford receives honorary doctorate from University of Manchester

Source Link: Hole in Earth’s Magnetic Field Cracks Open For Six Hours Sparking Rare Pink Auroras

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • Adorable Boxer Crabs Filmed “Cloning” Their Living Anemone Gloves For The First Time
  • Watch An Adorable Little Crab Hitch A Ride On A Mosaic Jellyfish Through The Gulf Of Thailand
  • COVID Vaccines Saved An Incredible 2.5 Million Lives In The First 4 Years Of The Pandemic
  • NASA Has Made A Sizable Error In Lunar And Martian Physics, Study Suggests
  • Disappearing Stars In The 1950s Associated With UAPs And Nuclear Weapons Tests
  • These Are The “New Seasons” Scientists Think Are Emerging Because Of Climate Change
  • Sharks And Rays Have The Oldest Vertebrate Sex Chromosomes – And They’re Like No One Else’s
  • Extremely Rare Black Hole Type Caught Snacking On A Star 450 Million Light-Years Away
  • Extremely Rare Asian Golden Cat Captured On Camera Trap Slinking Through Thai Forest
  • Around 720 Million Years Ago, Our Planet Turned Into A Snowball Earth – Is This Why?
  • New Excitonic Quantum State Of Matter Could Lead To Radiation-Proof Self-Charging Computers
  • “Remarkable” New Species Of 340-Million-Year-Old Ancient Shark Discovered In World’s Longest Cave System
  • Non-Hormonal Male Birth Control Pill With No Side Effects Smashes Early Trial
  • JWST Reveals Dust Being Destroyed In The Galaxy’s Most Extreme Colliding-Wind Binary
  • Are There Body Parts You Can Live Without? Find Out More In Issue 37 Of CURIOUS – Out Now
  • New Study Unearths Humanity’s “Hidden” Crossings Out Of Africa
  • Trichonephila Clavipes: The Spider That Spins “Golden” Silk
  • The Southern Delta Aquariids And Alpha Capricornids Meteor Showers Will Dazzle The Skies Together Soon
  • Virus Found In Black-Eyed Pea Plants Could Be Used To Treat Cancer
  • Many People Have No Idea Where Oil Actually Comes From. It’s Not Dinosaurs
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version